Saturday, September 11, 2010

This summer I had the pleasure of joining forces with the Lollipop Theater Network to bring some sketchin' fun to the children patients of the Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA. Lollipop Theater Network is a great organization that brings art, creativity, and movie magic to sick children in hospitals around the country. One of their many activities is to organize red carpet screenings of first-run films at hospitals for kids who would otherwise be too sick to go to an actual movie theater. Often a few stars from the film make a special appearance.

For our July drawing sessions we weren't accompanied by any movie stars, so the kids had to make do with just myself and Lollipop staffers Sara and Chelsea, but we still had a lot of fun. I started by sharing a bit about my journey with cancer, showing them some of the Daily Zoo characters, and then drawing a little with each patient. It was moving to see the children get excited about creating art - some didn't need much encouragement at all, their imaginations were already on fire! While it was tough to see these children hooked up to machines, looking pale and weak, it was equally impressive to see their courage and inner strength in handling their situations.

Below are my partners in crime and a grumpy goldfish I drew for one of the children who then went on to draw her own seascape filled with fish and other sea critters.